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The solid-electrolyte-interphase (SEI) plays a critical role in lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) because of its important influence on electrochemical performance, such as cycle stability, coulombic efficiency, etc. Although LiOH has been recognized as a key component of the SEI, its influence on the SEI and electrochemical performance has not been well clarified due to the difficulty in precisely controlling the LiOH content and characterize the detailed interface reactions. Here, a gradual change of LiOH content is realized by different reduction schemes among Co(OH)2, CoOOH and CoO. With reduced Co nanoparticles as magnetic "probes", SEI characterization is achieved by operando magnetometry. By combining comprehensive characterization and theoretical calculations, it is verified that LiOH leads to a composition transformation from lithium ethylene di-carbonate (LEDC) to lithium ethylene mono-carbonate (LEMC) in the SEI and ultimately results in capacity decay. This work unfolds the detailed SEI reaction scenario involving LiOH, provides new insights into the influence of SEI composition, and has value for the co-development between the electrode materials and electrolyte.

Hollow urchin-like substrates have been widely interested in the field of surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) and photocatalysis. However, most reported studies are simple nanoscale urchin-like substrate with limited light trapping range and complicated preparation process. In this paper, a simple and effective controllable synthesis strategy based on micro-nano hierarchical urchin-like ZnO/Ag hollow spheres was prepared. Compared with the 2D structure and solid spheres, the 3D urchin-like ZnO/Ag hollow sphere has higher laser utilization and more exposed specific surface area due to its special hollow structure, which resulted in excellent SERS and photocatalytic performance, and successfully realize the detection and photodegradation of antibiotics. The limited of detection of metronidazole can reach as low as 10−9 M, and degradation rate achieve 89 % within 120 min. The experimental and theoretical results confirm that the ZnO/Ag hollow spheres can be used in the development of ZnO heterostructure for the detection and degradation of antibiotics, which open new avenues for the development of novel ZnO-based substrate in SERS sensing and catalytic application to address environmental challenges.

An ultrathin seal serves as a preventive maintenance technology. The design method predominantly relies on engineering experience and lacks a theoretical foundation. In order to investigate the impact of aggregate size, spreading mass, and original pavement texture depth on the formation of an ultrathin seal, a compaction model was developed using the discrete element method (DEM). Different aggregate sizes and spreading masses were analyzed to examine the particle structure and thickness. The three-dimensional (3D) Weierstrass–Mandelbrot (WM) function was used to reconstruct random rough surfaces to assess the effect of the original pavement texture depth (1, 2, 3, and 4 mm) on voids and dosage of filling asphalt. Results showed that the dynamic compaction led to a rapid increase in collision velocity and then declined sharply by 0.02 s, eventually reaching zero by 0.3 s. Particle contacts steadily increased to 365 by 0.3 s and kept stable after the plateau, indicating the formation of an interlocking structure. Coordination numbers and contact vectors varied with particle size and spreading mass, which were more pronounced for small particles. However, the smaller particles (<4.5 mm) had negligible compaction effects, suggesting that the optimal aggregate size should be 3–5 mm. Excessive spreading mass resulted in a multilayered structure incompatible with the single thickness requirement and the recommended range was 9–12 kg/m2. Furthermore, greater texture depth led to higher void content at the bottom of the seal, requiring more filling asphalt. Therefore, when designing asphalt dosage, both the compaction and the variation in voids due to the original pavement texture depth should be considered to ensure sufficient contacts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The difference in force chains can be used to evaluate asphalt mixture skeleton structure. In this study, different asphalt mixture discrete element method models were established via the two-dimensional particle flow code software to analyze force chain identification criteria. And then, the force chain lengths of different asphalt mixtures were quantified preliminarily. Results indicate that the average contact force [bar.F] needs to be set as the contact force threshold value. The recommended angle threshold value is 45[degrees]. For asphalt mixtures, less than 50% aggregate content is involved in transferring external loading. Whether the aggregate is located on the force chains should be regarded as an important criterion to judge whether the aggregate is involved in the asphalt mixture skeleton composition. Although dense-graded asphalt concrete will generate many force chains, most of them are short length force chains that are not conducive to transferring load. Key words: force chains, identification criteria, length, asphalt mixture, discrete element method (DEM). La difference des chaines de force peut etre utilisee pour evaluer la structure du squelette de melange asphaltique. Dans cette etude, differents modeles de methode aux elements discrets de melange asphaltique ont ete etablis au moyen du logiciel de code de flux de particules bidimensionnel pour analyser les criteres d'identification des chaines de force. Ensuite, les chaines de force des differents melanges asphaltiques ont ete quantifiees prealablement. Les resultats indiquent que la force de contact moyenne [bar.F] doit etre definie comme valeur seuil de la force de contact. 45[degrees] est recommande comme valeur seuil de l'angle. Dans le cas des melanges asphaltiques, moins de 50 % de la teneur en granulat entre en jeu dans le transfert des charges externes. On doit considerer la question a savoir si le granulat est situe sur les chaines de force comme etant un critere important pour determiner si le granulat entre en jeu dans la composition du squelette du melange asphaltique. Bien que le beton asphaltique dense genere de nombreuses chaines de force, la plupart d'entre elles sont des chaines de force de courte longueur qui ne sont pas propices au transfert de charge. [Traduit par la Redaction] Mots-cles chaines de force, criteres d'identification, longueur, melange asphaltique, methode aux elements discrets (MED)., Introduction Rutting is one of the main types of asphalt pavement distress due to the cumulative deformation under the action of high temperature or the loading for a long time [...]